[HP] Stranger things

The next day was Saturday. Generally speaking, the students went to breakfast very late.Ann, Susan, and Cedric weren't the only ones waking up much earlier than usual on weekends, however.When they entered the foyer, they saw more than 20 people gathered there, some of them were still eating bread, and they were all looking at the Goblet of Fire carefully.The cup stood in the middle of the hall, on the stool where the Sorting Hat usually stood.A thin gold line was drawn on the floor, ten feet long on each side, round the cup.

"Sed, do you really want to participate?" Ann looked worriedly at Cedric, whose face was full of complacency. "I went to check some information, and the death rate is really, really high."

Cedric hugged his girl gently, and said in Ann's ear: "Trust me. I want everyone to know that Hufflepuff is not a place that only produces trash and idiots. In case Being selected means that I am also an excellent Hufflepuff, right? Of course, it’s okay if I’m not selected. Don’t worry about it.”

Ann wanted to say something more, but didn't speak.She didn't know what to say, but she just had an intuition that the resumption of the game was not accidental.

"I hear all the representatives from Durmstrang have put their names in," Zacharias said suddenly as Ann and Cedric stood in the doorway, "but haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet. "

Ann took a deep look at Cedric, but said nothing. Cedric smiled at Ann, and was pushed into the circle by Zacharias and Justin, and put his name into it.The surrounding Hufflepuffs applauded.Ann could only sigh helplessly, but seeing Cedric's bright smile, he didn't say anything, and the two walked towards the long table.

This morning, the decoration of the auditorium has changed again.Because it was Halloween, hordes of live bats flew around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of pumpkin figures squinted from every corner.

"Someone said that Warrington got up early in the morning and put his name in." Zacharias couldn't wait to share the first-hand information with them, "it's the big guy in the Slytherin Quidditch team. guy."

There was sudden applause from the outer hall.Everyone turned around in their seats to see Angelina Johnson enter the auditorium, grinning a little sheepishly.She was a tall dark girl who played Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.Angelina went to the Gryffindor table, sat down and said, "Yeah, I did it! I put my name in!"

Ann was still frowning and thinking about something, when suddenly she heard "Yeah, I'd rather be you than Diggory the Buttercup." A Gryffindor said, and his words attracted a few honchos passing by their table. The Chippaqi student glared at him angrily.Ann couldn't help but glared at him.

Durmstrang's delegation was walking from the lake to the castle.Viktor Krum and Karkaroff walked in front side by side, and the other Durmstrang students followed sparsely behind.

When they entered the candlelit auditorium, it was nearly full.The Goblet of Fire has been moved.It now stood in front of Dumbledore's empty chair on the staff table.

Halloween dinners seem to be taking a lot longer than usual.Perhaps because there were two consecutive days of banquets, it seemed that everyone didn't like the well-prepared and sumptuous dishes as much as usual.People in the auditorium kept looking up, with anxious expressions on every face.Everyone fidgeted, standing up from time to time to see if Dumbledore had finished eating.Ann and Cedric were just like them, eager to finish their plates and find out who had been chosen as a champion.

Finally, the golden plate returned to its original spotless state, and the voices in the auditorium suddenly increased a lot.Immediately, Dumbledore stood up, and the auditorium suddenly became silent again.Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on either side of Dumbledore looked as nervous and expectant as everyone else.Ludo Bagman was smiling and winking at the students of the various schools, while Mr. Crouch looked uninterested, almost bored.

"Well, the Goblet is about to make its decision," said Dumbledore. "I reckon it will take another minute. Listen, when the names of the champions are announced, I want them to walk to the top of the Great Hall and walk along the staff Desk walk over to that room next door—" He pointed to the door behind the instructor's desk, "they'll get their initial instructions there."

He took out his wand and swung it broadly.Immediately, except for those candles in the jack-o-lantern, all the other candles were extinguished, and the auditorium suddenly fell into a semi-dark state.The Goblet of Fire now emitted a dazzling light, brighter than anything else in the entire auditorium, and the blue-white flames bursting out with sparks were almost dazzling.Everyone watched and waited, and several people kept looking at their watches.

The flame in the goblet suddenly turned red, and crackling sparks burst out.Then, a tongue of flame shot into the air, and a piece of charred parchment flew out from it, and everyone in the auditorium held their breath.

Dumbledore caught the parchment and held it far away so that he could read the writing on it by the light of the flames.The flame then returned to blue-white again.

"Durmstrong's champion," he said in a clear and forceful tone, "is Victor Krum."

At this time, applause and cheers swept the entire auditorium.Viktor Krum got up from the Slytherin table and walked listlessly towards Dumbledore.He turned to the right, walked along the staff desk, and entered the next room through the door.

"Fantastic, Viktor!" Karkaroff roared like a bell, and despite the loud applause in the auditorium, everyone could hear his voice, "I know you're destined to be a warrior!"

The applause and conversation gradually subsided.Everyone's attention was now on the goblet again, and after a few seconds the flames turned red again.The second parchment leaped out of the cup, propelled by the flames.

"The champion of Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

I saw that girl who looked like a Veela stood up gracefully, flicked her shiny silver hair, and walked lightly between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

When Fleur Delacour also entered the next room, the auditorium fell silent again, this time filled with a palpable excitement.Now it's the turn of the Hogwarts warriors.Ann grabbed Cedric's hand nervously, she felt that she would not be able to speak if she could not breathe.

At this moment, the Goblet of Fire turned red again, sparks splattered, and the tongue of fire soared high into the air, and Dumbledore drew a third parchment from the tip of the tongue.

"Hero of Hogwarts," he cried, "is Cedric Diggory!"

The cheers from the nearby table were deafening.Every Hufflepuff was jumping up and down, screaming and stomping, when Cedric walked past them, grinning brightly, towards the room behind the staff desk.But Ann's complexion was not particularly good-looking, she didn't know who to tell her current distress, even her best friend Susan was very happy now.Indeed, the applause for Cedric lasted a long time before Dumbledore silenced everyone and listened to him.

"Great!" Dumbledore exclaimed cheerfully when the uproar finally subsided. "Now, our three warriors have been chosen. I know I can count on all of you, including Beauxbatons and To the rest of Durmstrang, you will definitely go all out to support your warriors. By cheering for the warriors, you will also make a great contribution to this event."

But Dumbledore stopped abruptly, and everyone could see what caught his attention.

The flame in the goblet turned red again.The sparks crackled and sputtered.A long tongue of flame suddenly jumped into the air, and a piece of parchment was held on it.

Dumbledore seemed to subconsciously stretch out a slender hand and grab the parchment.He held it far away, staring at the name written on it.There was a long silence, Dumbledore stared at the note in his hand, and everyone in the auditorium stared at Dumbledore.Then, Dumbledore cleared his throat and read aloud—

"Harry Potter."

Harry Potter sat there, and everyone in the Great Hall turned their heads to look at him.He stayed there with no expression on his face.No applause.A hum began to fill the auditorium, as if countless angry bees were chirping.Some students even stood up to get a better view of Harry, who sat frozen in his seat, as if frozen.

Professor McGonagall stood up in the guest seat, walked quickly past Ludo Bagman and Professor Karkaroff, and whispered eagerly in Professor Dumbledore's ear, Dumbledore listened, slightly wrinkled. Brows raised.

"Harry Potter!" he shouted again. "Harry! Please come here!"

Harry stood up, stepping on the hem of his robes, tripping slightly.He walked down the passage between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.Hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixed on Harry Potter, as if each eye couldn't be a searchlight.The buzzing buzz grew louder.All the teachers' eyes were fixed on him.

"Well, go through that door, Harry," said Dumbledore, without a smile on his face.

Harry walked past the staff desks.Harry went through the door and out of the Great Hall.After a while, the professors also went in, and most of the students went back angrily. Ann decided to wait for Cedric for a while. She had a lot to say to him, so she walked towards the door after the crowd dispersed.

"We must abide by the charter, which clearly states that anyone whose name is sprayed out of the Goblet of Fire must compete in the Triwizard Tournament."

"I insisted that my other students re-enroll," Karkaroff said.His voice was no longer smooth, the smile was gone, the expression on his face was horribly ugly, "You must put the Goblet of Fire back, and we're going to keep adding names to it until each school has two warriors. Only fair, Dumbledore."

"But Karkaroff, I'm afraid it won't work," Bagman said. "The Goblet of Fire has just been extinguished, and it won't be rekindled until the next Tournament."

"Durmstrang will never participate in the next competition!" Karkaroff was furious. "We had so many meetings, and after so many negotiations and negotiations, I never thought that such a thing would happen again! I I just want to leave now!"

Ann heard the quarrel inside from the outside, and she suddenly didn't want to wait for Cedric.She wanted to find a quiet place to appease her recent extremely bad feeling.Hufflepuff and Gryffindor would definitely have a celebration party tonight, but she didn't want to go, and after thinking about it, Ann went to the observatory.Only by looking into the distance from here can the depression in my chest dissipate a little.

She didn't know how long she stood there, but she seemed to calm down slowly. Seeing that it was almost time for the curfew, Ann had no choice but to go back.But when she turned around, she saw the savior standing not far away.After thinking about it, Ann still felt that she wanted to go up and talk to her. She really needed someone to talk to for a while now.

"Hey, Mr. Potter." Ann took the initiative to greet Harry Potter.

"I didn't vote in it, really, but Diggory doesn't seem to believe it." Harry Potter said a little frustrated.

An smiled at him and said, "I believe it's not you. Because you can't do it. You need to deceive a very powerful magic object, and you need to deceive the goblet so that he forgets that there are only three schools participating in the competition." , which requires a particularly strong confusion spell, I guess, someone must have entered your name as a student in the fourth school to ensure that you are the only candidate for that school. That person must want to kill you."

Harry Potter said happily: "Thank you for believing me. You can call me Harry. Your words are similar to what Professor Moody said. But they just don't believe it."

"Hello, Harry. Actually, I'm in a complicated mood right now, and I may not be able to listen to you a lot. But to be honest, I think this Triwizard Tournament is really not as simple as it seems on the surface. By the way, you You can call me Ann, and if you need help, you can come to Hufflepuff or the library to find me. After all, I am a sixth grader.” After finishing speaking, Ann was going back to the Hufflepuff lounge, after all, she is still A little afraid that Cedric was worried about her.

Harry suddenly said: "The first project is to test our guts, and it will be completed on November 11 in front of other students and the referee team. We must not ask for or accept any help from their teachers when completing the competition project. .The only weapon we have in our hands for the first round of challenges is our own wand. We don’t learn about the second until after the first one. And we don’t take exams for the school year.”

After hearing this, Ann smiled and said to Harry: "Thank you very much, Harry. I hope you will come to me if you need help. Also, I hope you will not be knocked down by gossip. Sometimes, When you gain something, you lose more."

Ann didn't say much to Harry and walked away.She felt that at least she could face Cedric now.Since there is no way to change what has happened, it is possible to change the future.